Rotary cutter



L. E. PARENT ROTARY CUTTER Oct. 16, 1928.

Filed May 5, 1927 Patented Oct. 16, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,688,297 PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS E. PARENT, OE CLAEEMON'T, NEW HAMTSTTIEE, AssrsNon To CLAEEMO'NTWASTE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ROTARY CUTTER.

Application filed May 3,

My invention relates to rotary cutters.

It has for its obj ect to provide an improved rotary cutter' and, moreparticularly, an improved flock cutter. A further object of my inventionis to provide improved cooling means for such a cutter whereby thetemperature of the working parts, and consequently of the flock, isreducedl in such a manner as to eliminate the danger from lire and toincrease the productive capacity of the cutter, while reducing the laborcost per pound of product.

In the accompanying drawings, l have shown for purposes of illustration,one embodiment which my invention might assume in practice.

In these drawings Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal sectional view of aflock cut-ter equipped with my im* provements.

Fig. 2 is a smaller transverse sectional view of the inlet end of thebed shown at the right in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar view` of the outlet end of the bed, shown at theleft in Fig. 1.

Fig. l is a reduced transverse sectional view of the cylinder, takenmidway between the ends of Fig. 1 and looking toward the right.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the wat-er inlet ofthe cylinder.

In this illustrative construction, I have shown my invention embodied inan improved floclr cutter of the construction described and claimed inmy co-pending` application, Serial No. 187,570, filed Apr. 29, 1927,wherein the iioclr to be cut is adapted to be fed through inlets 1 or 2to a reversible knife carrying cylinder 3 which in turn cooperates witha knife carrying bed L1, the materiallbeing fed to one end or t-he otherof 'thecylinder 8, de pending upon the direction of operation of thelatter, and discharged throughsuitable y outlets 5, G at opposite endsof the bed 4; this cutter herein being provided with improved coolingmeans in the cylinder 8, functioning in an improved manner with thecooling means for the bed. A Y

Considering first, the cooling means for the bed 4;, it will be notedthat. the cooling means on the bed are the same as in mykprevi'ous application mentioned. More particularly, the

bed l is shown provided with a cooling` water inlet 7 located at one endofthe bed and acting tosupply vcooling water tothe bottom of albranching upwardly extending end passage 1927. serial No. 188,458.

8. VThis passage 8 in turn delivers at its upper ends tolongitudinallyextending passages 9 andlO, extending longitudinally ofthe upper sideedges of the bed l on opposite sides of the knife seat orsocket- 11 in which the bed lvnives 12 are carried. Suitable transversepassages 13 extending acrossbet-ween the passages 9 and 10 andlongitudinally s )aced by the grooves in which thefbed knife adjustingscrews 141 lare located, also serve t permit the coolingwater not onlyto pass longitudinally from rthe inlet 7 but across under-the knife seator socket 11.. After the water liaspassed through the several passages,it also discharged t-hrough outlets 15, 16 at` the top of the passagesandl() and at the opposite end of the bed from theinletl 7.l Thus thecool.- ing water in the bed flows from end toend and transverselyof,thelatter from an inlet7 at the bottom of oneendof the bed to outlets 15,16 at the top ofthe other end thereof.

.In my improved constructioml` have pro vided improved cylinder coolingmeans provided with inlet means adjacent the outlet end ofthe bed andoutlet means adjacent the inlet means on the bed, and so constructed andarranged as not only to coolthe cylinder and'its knives, but alsotocooperate with the bed cooling means, and by cooperation with the latterfurther reduce the temperature tof the lat-ter. More particularly, itwill bei noted that the cylinder 8 has su'i'tablyi attached thereto forrotation therewith, as lreys 17, an axial tubular member 18. Herein, oneendV of this tubular memberor pipe 18 also extends beyond the left handbearing 19 of thecylinder 3 and beyond the power connection of thelatter. Further, the member 18 is provided at its left hand or inlet endwith an inlet or coolI water supplypipe `2O ein` tending into the sameand suitably connected thereto. Herein, it enters through agland 21threadedV into the end of the member 18 and held thereon by a, gland nut22` Further, this gland 21 compresses a coaxial packing 23 against amember 24, which in` turny is pressed against an l annular shoulder orfiange 25 ontlie member 18, while the pipe 2O extends through all thesemembers. Thusv it will be notedl that a watertight, jpint is formed`which stillV permits the slight recip rocation of the cylinder relativeto the pipe 2OWhich usually occurs in operation. It will further benoted that just inside the'inlet end bers 18 may a suitable abutment orstop is carried by the pipe 18, herein in the 'form ot a plug or stopper28 of any` suitable material driven into the pipe 1Q, and located hereinat a point Vslightly within the port-26 so that the water flowingthrough the inlet is obliged to be diverted through the port 26laterally into the chamber 2T. lllfhile' if desired two membeprovided,it will alsobe noted that herein, aspreferablthe member 18 is A,extendedcontinuously through the chamber 27 and provided with an outlet port 29,generally similar to the port 26 but at the opposite end o 'lthe'chamber 27 therefrom and herein on the same side ot the cylinderaxis, which enables the water in the chamber 27 rto pass out ot thechamber and back again into the bore of the pipe 18 on the opposite sideof the plug' 28. Thus the water entering through the pipe 2O into whatmay be called f and connection 32 to gitudinally'.

the section' 30 of the bore ot the member 18 is caused to pass throughthe port 26 into the chamber 27 and outoi the latter through the port 29into what may be called the section 31k of thebore ofthe memb r 18,while from the section 31 it passes out through a discharge pipe82through connections corresponding to `the lconnections 21, 22, 23, 24

and 25, previously described in connection rwith the inlet. Here it willbe noted that an yadjustable stop 33 carried by the cutter framecooperates with an annular groove 34 in the meinber'18at a point betweenthe bearing 19 position the latter lonln the operation ot my improvedconstruction the water entering the cylinder at the outletend of the bednot only cools the cylinder but also tends to keep down thetemperatureoiithe bed near its outlet end, while the coolwater enteringthe bed at theopposite endsimila-rly acts to keep down the temperatureof the cylinder adjacent its outlet, the

point of minimum temperature of one thus being opposite the point ofmaximum temperature of the other. ltwill alsobe noted that the waterentering the cylinder and leaving thesame further keeps down thetemperature of the cylinder bearings, thereby eliminating'-ftrouble fromheated bearings.`

Moreover, as the water flows longitudinally beside coolingthe bearing,the cool water `further has some cooling effect upon the cylinderfhousingland the ilock therein,`-and -Apassing through the end walls ofthe cylinder also tends to keep those end walls cool.

` `When within' the cylinder it further substantially lowers thetemperature of the cylinder 3, the circulation through the chamber 27and through the inlet and outlet ports 26, 29, serving constantly todraw away any heat developed by the knives and carried inward byconduction, while the arrangement of the ports 26 and 29 serves to causethe water to be distributed over the walls ot the chamber 2T whilemaintaining the desired circulation and keeping air from accumulatingobjecfv tionably. lt will further beevident that through the reductionin temperature of the body of the cylinder and ot the knives carriedthereon, there is a further reduction in temperature oit' the flock andof the bed and bed knives, as well as of the parts of the casing orsupports which come in contact witheither the flock, the bed, or thecylinder.

As a result of my improved construction, it is found that thetemperature of the flock is kept down in such manner as entirely toeliminate the danger ot lire with the loss, delay and labor incident totires. Further, l am able to operate the cutter at substantially higherspeeds than heretofore possible, and to operate it continuously at thesehigher speeds throughout the day without the three or four hours ofidleness heretofore necessary to permit the cutter to cool after itbecame overheated. As a result of the higher speed and the continuousoperation, both made possible by the lower temperature, it is of coursealso made possible substantially to increase the productive capacity otthe machine during a given time limit. rlhus, for example, as comparedwith a cutter equipped only with the improved bed ot-my co-pendingapplication previously mentioned, l am able to speed up the cuttertoover twice the previous possible speed. Further, due to the improvedcooling l have eliminated the tendency ofthe solid cylinder to become sohot as to ignite the flock even when used with a water cooled bed of mypreviously mentioned construction. As a result, l am able'to obtain overtwice as `much production per `machine hour, and on some grades ot stockover three times as much as was possible with my prior construction. Atthe same time'the cylinder bearings are kept cool and the upkeepofthemachine,`as for example in connection with the knives etc.,issubstantially reduced. A set ot' knives will wear from six months to ayear longer than even where only my water cooled bed is used with asolid cylinder, the excessive heating of the cylinder heretoforeexperienced and the consequent heatingof both its knives and the knivesin the bed, with the resultant softening and bending of the cuttingedges of all the knives, being completely eliminated. Furthen theoperator is not obliged to watch for fires or be troubledwith either thebearings or the lis) knives, as is the case where a solid cylinder isused and overheating can result, and the enf tire mechanism consequentlyrequiring little or no attention, he is enabled to care for asubstantially greater numbei` of machines in a given time. In fact, ascompared with the uncooled machine heretofore standard in the flockcutter art, Iam able todivide my labor costs per pound by ten, and whenoperating on some stock, by twelve or more. These and other advantageswill, however, be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Vihile I have in this application specitically described one embodimentwhich my invention may assume in practice, it will be und erstood thatthis form of the same is used for illustrative purposes and that theinvention may be moditied and embodied in various other forms withoutdeparting. from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

That I claim as new desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a rotary cutter, a cutter carrying cylinder7 a cooperating concavebed, socket means receiving said bed, and means for maintaining acirculation of cooling water through both said cylinder and said socketmeans.

2. The con'ibination `with a flock cutter comprising a knife carryingconcave bed and a cylinder carrying knives copperating with the knivesthereof, of a pluralityof water circulating' means cooperating towithdraw excess heat generated in operation and coolingv both the kniveson the cylinder and those on the bed.

3. The combination with a flock cutter comprising a knife carryingconcave bed and a cylinder carrying knives cooperating with the knivesthereof, of a plurality of water circulating means cooperating toWithdraw excess heat generated in operation, one maintaining a coolingflow through the cylinder and close to the base of the knives thereonand the other a cooling flow external of the cylinder and close to thebase of the knives in the bed.

Ll. In a rotary cutter, a cutter carrying cylinder, a cooperatingconcave bed, socket means receiving said bed, and means for maintaininga circulation of cooling water through bot-h said cylinder and socketmeans cooperating to cool the materialv as it passes laterally to andfrom said bed.

5. In a rotary cutter, a cutter carrying cyli inder, a cooperatingconcave bed, socket means receiving said bed, and means for maintainingseparate circulations of cooling water through said cylinder and socketmeans.

6. In a rotary cutter, a cutter carrying cylinder, a cooperating concavebed, socket means receiving said bed, and means for supplying differentsupplies of cooling water in opposite directions through said cylinderand socket means.

7. In combination, a concave cutter bed, a concave bed socket having acooling water inlet at its bottom and an outlet at its top andcommunicating water passages therebetween cooling the sides and bottomof said bed, and a cooperating cylinder having cooperating cooling meansincluding a cooling water passage therethrough.

8. In combination, a concave cutter bed, a concave bed socket having acooling water inlet at its bottom and an outlet at its top andcommunicating water passages therebetween cooling the sides and bottomof said bed, and a cooperating cylinder having cooperating cooling meansincluding a cooling water passage therethrough, the flow of water insaid cylinder being in an opposite direction from that through said bedsocket.

9. In combination, a concave cutter bed, a concave bed socket having aninlet at its bottom and an outlet at its top and communicatinglongitudinal and transverse water pas sages therebetween cooling thesides and bottom of said bed, and a cooperating cylinder' having anaxial chamber therein and means for maintaining a circulation of thewater in said chamber.

10. In a rotary cutter, a concave cutter carrying bed, a concave bedsocket, cooling means for the bed disposed in said socket includinglateral material cooling areas along each side of said bed, a knifecarrying cylinder cooperating` with said bed, and water cooling meansfor said cylinder cooling the cutters thereof and cooperating with saidlateral material cooling means to cool the material between said meansand said cylinder.

l l1. A water cooled tool carrying cylinder for iiock cutters having anaxial chamber therein and a tubular axial supply and discharge memberextending through said chamber and having a stopper between its ends ata point within said chamber and inlet and outlet ports on opposite sidesof said stopper communicating with said chamber.

12. -A water cooled tool carrying cylinder for flock cutters having anaxial rchamber Vtherein and a tubular axial supply and discharge memberextending through said chamber and having a stopper between its ends ata point within said chamber and inlet and outlet ports on opposite sidesof said stopper communicating with said chamber, said stopper beingnearer said inlet port and both said inlet and outlet ports openinglaterallyinto said chamber on the same sidethereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LOUIS E. PARENT.

